Following the letter of President of the Commission Barroso on the registering of the OMO Ilinden Pirin party, Olli Rehn’s spokesperson declared
yesterday that Bulgaria should enable this party to register.

In the program ‘Horizont’ on the Bulgarian National radio Krisztina Nagy, spokesperson of the Enlargement cabinet of Commissioner Olli Rehn said that:

“Bulgaria must respect the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, including the one regarding the registration of OMO “Ilinden” PIRIN. As all
member states, Bulgaria must respect the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights."

It is up to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to evaluate if a decision of the ECHR is not implemented and respected. The Deputies
agreed to resume consideration of this item at their 976th meeting (17-18 October 2006) on the basis of further information to be provided by Bulgaria
concerning payment of the sums awarded in this case as well as the individual measures to be taken in order to put an end to the violations and erase,
as far as possible, their consequences for the applicants.

Nelly Maes, President of EFA, declared: “The time is ticking away very fast now, Bulgaria will become a member of the EU but the time is running out to
do it in dignity. This means in such a way that democracy is respected. What the Bulgarian press and some Bulgarian Observers as the European Parliament
are writing and saying on our EFA/GREENS group is simply incredible and unacceptable”.

“Why peaceful organisations are called dangerous and racist while the newspapers are full of racist declarations from existing parties and state
representatives without any official reply or complaint. Not acting on this by the government will in the end result in compliance with political party
murder.”